Ultrasound: The game changer

Concussion

    From non-league football to professional rugby...concussion is something which a catalogue of sports has to deal with. In fact, American football is the sport which involves the most individuals suffering from concussion with, a staggering, 20% of high school players (in America) who experience concussion. This week, Universal Medicine will be exploring the topic of concussion along with symptoms and an exciting prospect which allows concussion to be identified from the side lines.

    Concussion is described as a "Mild" traumatic brain injury, here the brain bounces or twists in the skull as a result of a collision of sort. Although it is described as a "Mild" injury, concussion does have negative impacts on the individuals as well as possible long term effects. Firstly, it is important to understand that long term effects of concussion are very rare and can pass over time. A long term effect of concussion is the difficulty in making decisions as well as struggling to process a bulk of information but as previously stated the long term impacts from concussion is not a regular occurrence. Moreover, a lot of research has been conducted around this injury, research suggests that if someone has previously suffered from concussion then they are twice as more likely to experience concussion again. In addition, if someone has endured concussion twice then they are 2-4 times more likely to receive a third. Another study indicates that females are more liekly to experience concussion than males as well as experiencing more symptoms and having to wait longer to recover.


    Concussion Anatomy
    Symptoms of concussion:

        Concussion Anatomy
        Loss of consciousness
        Headache
        Nausea
        Confusion
        Balance issues
        Vomiting


    The game changer 

    Cue the TCD headset. The TCD headset is a very exciting medical prospect which allows the detection of concussion. TCD is an ultrasound technique which can measure the brain's blood flow. Ultrasound is already used in medical imaging as well as removing kidney stones. This headset which is bursting with potential was tested on 235 athletes, 66 of these athletes had recently suffered from concussion. Over 6 days the group of researchers measured blow flow. Furthermore, the researchers found that the TCD device easily distinguished between healthy and concussed athletes with 83% accuracy whilst conventional methods distinguished with accuracies between 53%-60% suggesting that the new TCD device was very much capable. This could be great help to the medical staff for sports teams as they are able to determine a player requires treatment.


    So, will TCD be a massive hit? Please feel free to comment if you think the TCD Ultrasound method will be a game changer, until then have a great week.

    Written by Adil Rahman

     Information souces:
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/309033.php
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/256518.php
    http://www.concussiontreatment.com/concussionfacts.html





    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    PTSD - A Psychodynamic Explanation

    Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder which you may develop after being involved in, or witnessing, traumatic events. The condition was first recognised in war veterans and has been known by a variety of names, such as 'shell shock'. PTSD can develop immediately after someone experiences a disturbing event, or it can occur weeks, months or even years later. Its estimated to affect about 1 in every 3 people who have a traumatic experience, but it's not clear exactly why some people develop the condition and others do not. There are many theories that could be used to explain this condition. Psychodynamic approaches to PTSD focus on a number of different factors that may influence or cause PTSD symptoms, such as early childhood experiences, current relationships and the things people do to protect themselves from upsetting thoughts and feelings that are the result of experiencing a traumatic event. The psychodynamic approach focuses mainly...
    Read more

    Disparities in Global Eye Care

    Vision is one of our most precious possessions. Multiple polls globally show that most people are more fearful of becoming blind than losing any other sense. (1,2) With sight being such a valuable asset, one would assume that eyecare is at the forefront of medical services across the world. Living in the developed world, we perhaps take for granted the simple and yet crucial services available to us such as regular eye tests, glasses, contact lenses and high-quality ophthalmic care - most of which can be accessed for free or at a subsidised price. However, in many parts of the world this is not the case. 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired, with 90% being from developing countries. (3) In China, for example, levels of blindness are increasing each year, however critically, rates of blindness have been reported at up to 4 times higher in the developing world as compared to more economically developed countries (4, 5). This is particularly worrying given that around 80% of...
    Read more

    Do Contact Lenses Really “Support Your Vision”?

    Image
    Contact lenses have been frequently used as an alternative to glasses. Compared to the heavy-framed glasses in front of one’s eyes (optic glasses), thin plastic discs on the eye (contact lenses) help correct refractive errors in both myopic and hypermetropic users. The lens’ shape and power can be tailored to the user’s sight. A concave lens can be used to decrease myopia by reducing light refraction and increasing focal length so that the image is formed on the retina (1)  (Figure 1). Alternatively, a convex lens can be used to limit hypermetropia in an opposing mechanism to concave lenses (1) (Figure 1). Figure 1, An illustration of myopia and hyperopia and how adding lens of different shapes in front of the eye can be used to alter the refraction of light and correct each impairment in vision (10) Besides supporting sight, which both types of lenses can do, contact lenses confer some advantages that make them preferable to glasses. Unlike glasses, contact lenses are less li...
    Read more